A Mexican man who lost both his arms to severe burns has told how a double arm transplant has transformed his life.

Gabriel Granados had to have both limbs amputated just below the elbow after receiving a severe electrical shock.

Last May he became the first patient in Latin America to receive a double arm transplant.

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Change: Gabriel Granados had to have both arm amputated just below the elbow after receiving a severe electrical shock. A year on from the surgery, physiotherapy has helped him regain the majority of movement in his arms

Nearly 20 medics, including five plastic
surgeons, five nurses and three anaesthetists, performed a marathon
17-hour operation to attach two arms donated by the family of a 34-year-old shooting victim.

Now, a year on, he has spoken about the 'new lease of life' the operation has given him - and says heisextremely grateful to the donor's family.

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Thanks to extensiverehabilitation such as physiotherapy at Mexico City's Nutrition Hospital, he has also recovered the majority of movement in his arms.

Even a month after the operation, he told a news conference that the transplant was 'terrific' and that he has begun to feel his new hands. Before the surgery, doctors say they practiced the procedure on corpses.

Hope: Last May he became the first patient in Latin America to receive a double arm transplant

Transplant: Nearly 20 medics, including five plastic surgeons, five nurses and three anaesthetists, performed a marathon 17-hour operation to attach two arms donated by the family of a 34-year-old shooting victim

Now, a year on, he has spoken about the 'new lease of life' the operation has given him - and says he is extremely grateful to the donor's family

'This is wonderful that after being without hands for some time, all of a sudden I see new hands,' said Mr Granados, who is an agent in the financial unit of Mexico City's prosecutors' office.

His arms were amputated after they
were badly burned in January 2011, when he received an electrical shock
while giving instructions to a group of construction workers building a
fence.

He said: 'I was giving directions to the master masons to put a
fence that was located precisely in an area where there were cables.

Thanks to extensive rehabilitation such as physiotherapy at Mexico City's Nutrition Hospital, he has also recovered the majority of movement in his arms

'When the accident happened, I was carrying a piece of rod that caused
the electric shock that burned arms, arteries, nerves, vessels and bone.'

He underwent the surgery at the National Institute of Medical Sciences and Nutrition Salvador Zubirán.